Much to see: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh at the Olympic Council of Malaysia yesterday. — Bernama
PETALING JAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh sees eye to eye with the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) on the need to relocate the OCM headquarters to the Kuala Lumpur Sports City (KLSC) in Bukit Jalil.
Hannah visited the Wisma OCM, which was built in 1991 and houses the OCM office, national sports associations (NSA), training hall, Olympic Hotel and OCM Sports Museum in Jalan Hang Jebat yesterday.
Hannah said she and Youth and Sports Ministry secretary-general Dr K. Nagulendran understand the need for the shift after their visit.
She believes that relocating the headquarters to the KLSC will benefit all parties.
“All of the sports activities and athletes are based at Sports City but OCM is (currently) located quite far from them.
“It would be easier for OCM to monitor all sports activities and the performance of athletes if they were also based there,” said Hannah.
Hannah believes that the building has served OCM well for the past 30 years but it cannot play a prominent role for the next 20 to 30 years.
“I agree with (OCM president) Tan Sri Norza (Zakaria) that sports need to be modernised,” said Hannah.
“We must begin with the facilities and work our way up to modernising the sports administration.
“We need to look at the land first, then the development model, the funds involved and of course, the Cabinet’s approval.
“Before we can present this paper to the Cabinet, I need to make preparations, gather feedback from all related agencies, including the land office, and we will begin with the process of getting feedback.”
Tan Sri Mohd Norza Zakaria said they will try their best not to burden the government.
“We are currently looking at a 2.69 acre plot in Bukit Jalil but the Sports Ministry will have the final say,” said Norza.
“As much as possible, we don’t want to over-burden the government. We just need a land ownership in the Bukit Jalil area.”
“We will give this land to the developer for a certain amount and they will build a new building for us.
“We want to follow the footsteps of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) who built the new Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the theme of green, sustainability, environment and green technology.’’
